Mustang Week 2013 - Myrtle Beach, SC

Grand Central

Burnout Contest

Jonathan Nerren was in it to win it at the SVTPerformance.com-sponsored Burnout Contest that caps off the day of fun at the local speedway. His entire crew boasted custom Mustang Week Burnout Contest 2013 T-shirts, and Jonathan didn’t disappoint them. He has shown his skills on Octane Academy, and Jonathan wowed the crowd, which cheered loudest for him. In return, he brought home $500 worth of Nitto Tires from Discount Tire Direct.

We give this Saleen driver extra credit for his window-riding co-pilot, who urged on the crowd while he was smoking the tires down the speedway’s front straight.

This green Fox had a strong following in the crowd, but a mechanical failure prevented it from returning to the track for voting.

We didn’t see this coming. What seemed like an ill-fated attempt at a burnout was actually setting the stage for Sidney Collins to propose marriage to his girl, Kristi Hathcock. Instead of laying down a cloud of smoke, Sidney charged up to the speedway’s finish line, dropped to one knee, popped open a ring box, and boom. It seems Kristi said yes. Congrats to the happy couple.

Drag Night

Competition Auto of Fayetteville, North Carolina, wowed the Drag Night crowds with its 7-second GT500. Based on a stock 5.4 block, crank, and running stock displacement, this racy ride gets down to business thanks to a big single-turbo.

The Carolinas love their Mustangs, especially Fox Mustangs. That said, it was no surprise that the first Mustang we snapped our shutter on was a Fox coupe from North Carolina. This one sports a 351 swap.

Fresh off a big win at the grudge race the previous night Chris Tuten, along with his brother Brian and their pal Brent Weston, stuck around for Mustang Week’s Drag Week to put some laps on their racers. While their shop is only an hour up the road, it was the first visit to Drag Night for the BMF Racing team.

At first glance you might think this is just another modern Mustang with a flat finish. However, pay close attention to the rear of the car. This is an early S197 with a ’10-’12 (S197K) front end on it. Though the panels don’t match up exactly, it’s a pretty fetching combo and answers the what-if question many of us had after first laying eyes on the ’10 Mustang.

Car Show

Another ride that you’ll be reading more about on these pages is Tom Clark’s ’79 Indy Pace Car. When we last saw this car the exterior was similar, but Tom has taken the engine and interior to new levels. It is now powered by a boosted Coyote, and the custom interior is out of this world. As soon as the tuning work is complete and it’s wearing a hood, we are featuring this incredible ride.

We’ve been telling Associate Editor Michael Johnson to man up and put a Terminator nose on his Bullitt. He must be a purist, as he won’t do it. Chris Raffaelo of Dunstable, Massachusetts, has no such qualms, however. Not only did Chris improve his Bullitt’s visage with a Termi nose, but he added a 70mm turbo, Anderson Ford Motorsport F52 cams, UPR suspension, SCT Tuning, and an MGW shifter. The turbo Bullitt lays down 373 horsepower and 393 lb-ft of torque on only 6 pounds of boost.

We always gravitate toward the tastefully unusual, and that description fits Jeff Mozingo’s ’95 Mustang GT to a T. Lurking under the hood of this unassuming Best ’94-’98 winner is a swapped Three-Valve 5.0-liter modular with a sheetmetal intake that’s plumbed with a direct-port nitrous system. Jeff says it runs great, and we can’t argue with that.

Terminators will always get respect from Mustang fans, but many ’03-’04 Cobras rock the same tried-and-true combo. Not so with Dusty Lemmons’ silver Termi. It sports a Sullivan intake manifold (wrapped in hydrocarbon no less) fed by a polished ProCharger pushing boost through polished tubing. The car was clean and for sale, so it’s likely Dusty’s name isn’t on the title anymore.

Picking an Editor’s Choice award at a show like Mustang Week is a bit of pressure. There are so many cool cars of all years that it can be tough. When push comes to shove, gut instinct prevails, Your author really enjoyed the juxtaposition of an FRPP-blown Coyote in an ’86 Mustang SVO. Said car is owned by Wayne Vance of Newland, South Carolina, and built by Dale Milton of Fatboy Fabrication. The install is clean and the exterior is subtle, making for a real sleeper.

If the name Charles Carterette sounds familiar, it’s because you drooled all over our feature photos of his incredible ’91 LX coupe in our June ’13 issue (“Pure Sick,” p. 40). Well, this is Charles’ latest creation—a Fox hatch with a new House of Kolors color-changing hue. Powered by a turbocharged Four-Valve 4.6, the car is capable of low 9s. We’ll be bringing you more on this ride as soon as Charles is finished detailing the engine compartment.

Akin to seeing a unicorn, spotting one of Roush’s unusual pushrod 5.0 intakes out of captivity will turn our heads. Originally designed for naturally aspirated, push-rod 5.0s, the Roush manifold (SN 0007 in this case) was later adapted for supercharging. Obviously, that’s the one showcased by Jamie Marsh of Indian Land, South Carolina, on his ’93 Mustang LX. This Roush Tribute Mustang features a stock short-block with iron GT-40 heads, and it puts down 419 horsepower and 401 lb-ft at the feet.